Cutting Edge
Article by Steve Beck, Wanganui Chronicle.
There is scant room in the garage for John McDonald’s car, but then that is as it should be for someone honing his skills in a new career that is crowding out the available garage space.
It is a long way from his days as an apprentice in Scotland, and his subsequent
years as an engineer both there and in New Zealand, as he embarks on a journey
he hopes will see him cutting into the lucrative United States’ market for a specialist
line in collectibles. However his engineering background has been a boon in creating the equipment he needs to carve out his new career in Hunterville, far from the big city hustle and bustle which had been his previous job out of Auckland. Then he was John McDonald, specialist engineering representative. Now he is John McDonald, knife maker, garage-based and quickly building a name for his company, Alba, itself as he crafts custom-made knives.
They are not your basic butter or carving knives, oh no, these are works of art, with some cutting no more than a fine dash in a cabinet of other beautiful pieces where blade and handle make a statement about both the knife maker and the buyer.
And why Alba? Well, that is an ancient name for Scotland, as well as linked to a famous blade owned by the Duke of Alba in the days when men lived and died by their swords.
Mr. McDonald does make utilitarian products. As a long-time deer stalker he values the time and energy saving a well-made and well-balanced knife can make when it comes to skinning and breaking down his prize after a long day in the bush.
And so he makes knifes for farmers, or meat workers and others who appreciate the heft of a custom-made blade and handle.
Some of the blades are made from carbon steel, the type that is prone to rust if not used regularly. But it has the benefit of holding the sort of keen edge his clients appreciate, and a light rub with a steel or stone brings it back to optimum sharpness. The same steel was much prized in olden times, when the bulk of a blade was made from iron, which was cheaper and relatively easier to work, before a fine edge of carbon steel was added for its strength and cutting edge. Mr McDonald now uses a steel (D-2) that has great edge retention and has the ability to resist rust because of the 14% chromium in the steel. If the client requires blades can also be made from steel that is completely stain resistant 440C this steel is especially good when used in kitchen knives… much valued by Chefs and housewives.
Mr. McDonald’s road to knife-making began as a young apprentice in Scotland when he used to turn discarded bits of broken saw blades into basic knives, both for himself and his friends. They were basic because his skills were basic – no more than a blade roughly chopped out of the saw steel, and a handle made from timber scrap, roughly shaped and held on with a couple of blind rivets. Rough and ready though they were, they made him appreciate the work that went into elegant classical knives of both the present and the past.
"I began reading books, and magazines put out for collectors, and saw how the balance of blade and handle came together into prized pieces."
He saw pieces that fetched US$50,000 or more at conventions which drew knife addicts in their thousands from throughout the United States.
"The US has a history of elegant utilitarian knifes – perhaps the best-known being the Bowie, named after its maker and owner Jim Bowie who incorporated it as an indispensable part of his equipment in the backwoods."
Mr. McDonald has been slowly building his skills, learning techniques ranging from leather-making for sheathes to cover his creations, and for the carved leather handles prized by some, to the creation of a plethora of blade shapes, and innovative handles, both in style and materials that put his mark on a piece.
Already the leather part of the equation has demanded its own quarters, a room at the back of the garage, where he works his alchemy on hides creating items that would stand on their own as works of art.
But that is only part of the story. There are blades to shape out of billets of and handles which will compliment the length, shape and curves of the blades. "They have to flow into a unit, and not look as though one has been tacked on to the other, but rather that they were meant to be a single knife - from point to hilt."
His ideas come from many sources, clients who have seen something and want a similar piece, or those magazines where the best of the best are on show. Then there are the exhibitions, where knives are bought and sold, and reputations won or lost as knife-makers put their wares side by side under the public glare.
"Since January I have more or less been building up a reputation on the local scene, creating a few knives and selling a few, putting together a portfolio. I have been following the masters – those featuring in the magazines and exhibitions, or chasing up their websites. It is also a matter of listening to clients, to distill their likes and find out what turns them on. "It is a constant search for the ideal, the ideal shape, the ideal blade, the ideal handle, the ideal reputation that gets you noticed and up there with the best."
The search has him experimenting with materials, especially for the handles. It has also seen him adding to his skills, learning to carve in wood, something he wants to translate into bone and other materials. The carving also gives him ideas for blades and blade patterns. He linked up with a saddler to learn the ways of leather, and he sees carving as an important addition to his overall skills base.
He makes handles from leather, laboriously fed on to the steel tine extension of the blade that forms the basic element of the handle. Then he carves those compact roundels into shape before sealing the pommel. He also makes them from 5000-year-old black Maire – fossilised wood which tells him exactly what he should do with it when it comes to using a precious piece to create a handle. "It is beautiful and you feel honoured to be handling it, let alone incorporating it into your designs."
Then there is the more modern Pakka wood he imports from the US. It is a man-made combination of wood and resins formed under enormous pressure. Carving brings out the layers in an ever-changing pattern, while it form a tough and consistent handle material. There are about five recognised master knife-makers in New Zealand and fewer still who have struck the rich vein of the US collector market. Mr. McDonald aspires to join them. "Each local commission is a step on the way, because that generates a wider interest. Knife collectors know each other and talk about who is making what. Many New Zealand collectors travel overseas, and again they are meeting like-minded people, who ask about pieces the visitors’ cherish. "It is not unknown for collectors to travel thousands of miles to find a knife-maker whose products have impressed them," Mr. McDonald said.
Meanwhile, the sparks fly as he moves to shape a new blade, one of the increasing number of commissions he has already attracted. He had drawn it out, roughly shaped it from the raw billet of steel and now, in his mind’s eye, he has the complete knife within his reach. It is just a matter of many hours of delicate work to get there, but then, the hours fly because he is in his element.
"Is this working?" he asks. "I love knives and everything to do with them, all knives," he says pointing to an ancient carving knife on his workbench. It is a family heirloom someone wants restored to its former glory, carved bone handle and all.
They heard Mr. McDonald was in town and saw their chance. And Mr. McDonald just couldn’t resist the challenge to learn from a previous master.